Police in Essex take longer to investigate crimes and charge suspects than any other force in England, new figures reveal.

Ministry of Justice statistics show an average investigation for a crime in Essex takes 114 days from when an offence is committed until somebody is charged.

The figures, for between April and June, reveal Essex Police takes 46 more days to complete an investigation than the average time taken in Cleveland in the North East, which has the shortest investigations period in the country.

Time spent on investigating crimes in Essex has shot up by about a third.

Probes took just 77 days in the first quarter of 2011.

In Manchester, the average time from offence to charge is 92 days, while in Merseyside it takes 98 days.

The only region with a longer investigation time than Essex is Dyfed Powys, inWales, with 115 days.

The figures reveal that investigations across the country are taking nearly 10 per cent longer compared with four years ago. However, there has been a 28 per cent drop in crime.

Mark Smith, chairman of Essex Police Federation, said longer investigations was a result of growing pressures on officers, a new police computing system and delays in waiting for forensic evidence to be returned from Kent.

He said: “We’ve got fewer resources on the street now, so the officers are on the streets are also the officers investigating the crimes that they’ve been given. “So if they are picking up more and more jobs each day, they may not be getting the time to investigate those that are waiting for them in their tray.

“And officers are being asked for a lot more paperwork before a decision is made on somebody being charged.’’ He added: “We want to get the work done. We want to get the evidence and get criminals in court as quickly as possible. It is frustrating.’’